Old-man golf
Vijay Singh, the 2000 champion, is the Champions Tour leading man this week.
He hadn’t broken par in Augusta since 2015 when he made his previous cut until he shot a 1-under 71 Thursday.
He was on his way to a stellar round on Friday but bogeyed three of his last five holes to shoot 74.
Still he was the low Champions Tour player of the first 36 holes of the 82nd Masters at Augusta National Golf Club by a shot over Fred Couples.
Couples, the 1992 champ who always plays Augusta National well, had a few stray shots as well on the back nine but managed a round of 74 and made the cut at 2 over. It is his 30th made cut in 33 Masters appearances.
Couples had a back-nine 39 with three birdies, three bogeys and a triple bogey on No. 11.
Two-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer, who has dominated the Champions Tour in recent years, also made the cut at 4 over after consecutive rounds of 74. It is only his fourth made cut in his past 12 Masters appearances.
Singh and Langer are scheduled to play at next week’s Mitsubishi Electric Classic in Duluth.
Amateur marks
Doug Ghim, the U.S. Amateur runner-up, of Arlington Heights, Ill., and the University of Texas, was the low amateur after two rounds at 4 over after rounds of 72 and 76.
He was thrilled to be looking at playing the weekend.
“I'm assuming that not every (PGA) Tour event feels quite this nerve wracking,” Ghim said. “But I take a lot of confidence from the way that I held myself. I felt like if anything, my attitude was really good these first two days, I could have very easily shot 78 (Thursday), very easily could have shot 80 (Friday), and kind of stuck with it.”
The U.S. Amateur winner, Doc Redman of Clemson, was the only other amateur who seriously challenged to make the cut. Redman was right on the cut at the turn on Friday but went bogey, double bogey on Nos. 10-11 and also double bogeyed No. 15.
Numerology
79
The second-round score for three-time Masters champ Phil Mickelson, tying his worst 18-hole score in 96 rounds at Augusta National. He also shot a second-round 79 in 2015. “There's a fine line between wanting it so bad and then also letting it kind of happen. As you get older you feel a little bit more pressure each one because you don't feel as though you have unlimited number of events,” Mickelson said.
He said it
"It is hard to believe. Yesterday we played late in the afternoon, our group was playing great, and walking up 18 the shadows were long, I was really enjoying the day. But I thought back to walking up 18 with my dad on the bag and you remember, each day, kind of going, how special is this? Just trying to soak it in. Trying to realize what a special place that we are, getting to be inside the ropes, getting to compete. And then kind of felt that yesterday, just as the shadows were long and late in the afternoon, so I thought back to '98 and walking up with dad on 18." -- Matt Kuchar, of Georgia Tech, recalling his first trip to Augusta in 1998 as the U.S. Amateur champ. Kuchar shot a 75 Friday to follow his 68 on Thursday.
Forecast
Rain is expected around 8 a.m. and to be reasonably strong from noon to 4 p.m. and not stopping till 10 p.m. Temps will be, at best, in the mid 60s. Wind is light early but picks up after noon to 10 mph.
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